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Adrienne Rich
| birthplace = Baltimore, Maryland, United States | deathdate = | deathplace = | occupation = poet, non-fiction writer, essayist | genre = poetry, non-fiction | notableworks = Diving Into the Wreck | awards = National Book Award for Poetry, 1974; Griffin Poetry Prize Lifetime Recognition Award, 2010 }} Adrienne Cecile Rich (born May 16, 1929) is an American poet, essayist, and feminist. She has been called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century."Nelson, Cary, editor. Anthology of Modern American Poetry. Oxford University Press. 2000. Life Early life Adrienne Rich was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the older of two sisters. Her father, renowned pathologist Arnold Rice Rich, was a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins Medical School, and her mother, Helen Jones Rich, had been a concert pianist until she married. Although Arnold Rich came from a Jewish family the girls were raised as Christians. Adrienne Rich's early poetic influence stemmed from her father who encouraged her to read but also to write her own poetry. Her interest in literature was sparked within her father's library where she read the work of writers such as Ibsen Shuman (2002) p1278 Arnold, Blake, Keats, Rossetti, and Tennyson. Her father was ambitious for Adrienne and "planned to create a prodigy". Adrienne Rich and her younger sister were home schooled by their mother until Adrienne began public education in the fourth grade. The poems Sources and After Dark document her relationship with her father, describing how she worked hard to fulfill her parents' ambitions for her - moving into a world in which she was expected to excel. In later years, Rich went to Roland Park Country School, which she described as a "good old fashioned girls school that gave us fine role models of single women who were intellectually impassioned." Martin, Wendy (1984) An American triptych: Anne Bradstreet, Emily Dickinson, Adrienne Rich The University of North Carolina Press p174 ISBN 0-8078-4112-9 After graduating, Rich gained her college diploma at Radcliffe College, Harvard, where she focused primarily on poetry and learning writing craft, encountering no women teachers at all. In 1951, her last year at college, Rich's first collection of poetry, A Change of World, was selected by the senior poet W.H. Auden for the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award; he went on to write the introduction to the published volume. Following her graduation, Rich received a Guggenheim Fellowship, to study in Oxford for a year. Following a visit to Florence, she decided to cut short her study at Oxford and spend her remaining time in Europe writing and exploring Italy. Family life In 1953, Rich married Alfred Haskell Conrad, an economics professor at Harvard University, whom she had met as an undergraduate. She had said of the match "I married in part because I knew no better way to disconnect from my first family ... I wanted what I saw as a full woman's life, whatever was possible." They settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts and had three sons - David in 1955 (now a graphic designer), Paul in 1957 (now an elementary school music teacher) and Jacob in 1959 (now a radio producer). In 1955 she published her second volume, The Diamond Cutters, a collection she says she wishes had not been published. Her third collection, Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law, was a much more personal work examining her female identity, reflecting the increasing tensions she experienced as a wife and mother in the 1950s, marking a substantial change in Rich's style and subject matter. In her 1982 essay Split at the Root: An Essay on Jewish Identity, Rich states "The experience of motherhood was eventually to radicalize me." The book met with harsh reviews. She comments, "I was seen as 'bitter' and 'personal'; and to be personal was to be disqualified, and that was very shaking because I'd really gone out on a limb ... I realised I'd gotten slapped over the wrist, and I didn't attempt that kind of thing again for a long time." She continued her travels during 1961 and 1962 with a second Guggenheim Fellowship to work at the Netherlands Economic Institute. In 1964, Rich joined the New Left and in 1966, she moved with her family to New York, becoming involved in anti-war, civil rights and feminist activism; her husband took a teaching position at City College of New York. In 1968, she signed the “Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.“Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” January 30, 1968 New York Post Rich's activism and increasing politicisation are reflected the poems in her next three collections, Necessities of Life (1966), Leaflets (1969), and The Will to Change (1971), also highlighting an expanding interest in poetic form. Rich, from this point forward, became increasingly represented with the women's movement. From 1967, Rich held positions at Swarthmore College and Columbia University School of the Arts and from 1968, with City College of New York. Increasingly militant, Rich hosted anti-Vietnam and Black Panther fundraising parties at their apartment; tensions began to split the marriage, Conrad fearing that his wife had lost her mind. The couple separated in mid-1970 and shortly afterward, in October, Conrad drove into the woods and shot himself. Later life and sexuality In coming out as a lesbian in 1976, Rich's feminist position crystallized. In this year she published the controversial volume Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution. She wrote, "The suppressed lesbian I had been carrying in me since adolescence began to stretch her limbs," lesbianism pressing as a political as much as a personal imperative. The pamphlet Twenty-One Love Poems (1977), which was incorporated into the following year's Dream of a Common Language (1978), marked the first direct treatment of lesbian desire and sexuality in her work.Aldrich and Wotherspoon (2000) Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History, Vol 2. Routledge p352 ISBN 0-415-22974-X.A Wild Patience Has Taken Me This Far (1981) and some of her late poems in The Fact of a Doorframe (2001) represent the capstone of this philosophical and political position. In her analytical work Adrienne Rich: the moment of change, Langdell suggests these works represent a central rite of passage for the poet, as she (Rich) crossed a threshold into a newly constellated life and a "new relationship with the universe".Langdell, Cheri Colby (2004) Adrienne Rich: the moment of change. p159 Praeger Publishers ISBN 0-313-31605-8 During this period, Rich also wrote a number of key socio-political essays, including "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence", one of the first to address the theme of lesbian existence. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/jun/15/featuresreviews.guardianreview6 Guardian article, profile: "Poet and pioneer". 15 June 2002]. Accessed 2010-08-10 In this essay, she asks "how and why women's choice of women as passionate comrades, life partners, co-workers, lovers, community, has been crushed, invalidated, forced into hiding". Some of the essays were republished in On Lies, Secrets and Silence: Selected Prose, 1966–1978 (1979). Rich shouted out her sexuality and took a role in leadership for sexual equality. Novelist and poet Jeanette Winterson describes Rich's impact: "Since the 1960s, her poetry and her politics have come together to create involved, engaged, challenging writing". In 1974, her collection Diving Into the Wreck won the National Book Award for Poetry, which she shared with Allen Ginsberg. Rich was joined by feminist poets Alice Walker and Audre Lorde to accept it on behalf of all women. Shuman (2002) p1276 In 1976, began a relationship with Jamaican-born novelist and editor Michelle Cliff. Adrienne Rich taught at City College as well as Rutgers University until 1979. She moved to Western Massachusetts with Cliff in the early 1980s. Ultimately, they moved to Northern California, where Rich continued her career as a professor, lecturer, poet, and essayist. Cliff and Rich took over editorship of the lesbian journal Sinister Wisdom in 1981. Rich taught and lectured at Scripps College, San Jose State University, and Stanford University during the 1980s and 1990s.Cucinella, Catherine (2002) Contemporary American women poets: an A-to-Z guide. p295 Greenwood Press ISBN 0-313-31783-6 Both An Atlas of the Difficult World (1991) and Dark Fields of the Republic (1995) explore the relationship between private and public histories. During the 1990s Rich became an active member of numerous advisory boards such as the Boston Woman’s Fund, National Writers Union, Sisterhood in Support of Sisters in South Africa, and New Jewish Agenda. On the role of the poet, she has written, "We may feel bitterly how little our poems can do in the face of seemingly out-of-control technological power and seemingly limitless corporate greed, yet it has always been true that poetry can break isolation, show us to ourselves when we are outlawed or made invisible, remind us of beauty where no beauty seems possible, remind us of kinship where all is represented as separation."[http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/rich/onlineessays.htm "Defy the Space that Separates" The Nation, October 7, 1996.] In 1997, Adrienne Rich refused the National Medal of Arts, stating that "I could not accept such an award from President Clinton or this White House because the very meaning of art, as I understand it, is incompatible with the cynical politics of this administration ... "Art means nothing if it simply decorates the dinner table of the power which holds it hostage".Shuman (2002) p1281[http://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/11/us/in-a-protest-poet-rejects-arts-medal.html In a Protest, Poet Rejects Arts Medal The New York Times article July 11, 1997.] Accessed 10 February 2010Letter available at HotInk. The volume Midnight Salvage was published in 1999, as she turned 70. Recognition *Yale Younger Poets Award (1950) for A Change of World. *Guggenheim Fellowship 1952 *National Institute of Arts and Letters Award (1960) *Shelley Memorial Award (1970) *National Book Award for Poetry (1974) for Diving into the Wreck *Inaugural Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize (1986) *Honorary doctorate from Harvard University (1989) *National Poetry Association Award for Distinguished Service to the Art of Poetry (1989) *William Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement (for gay or lesbian writing) (1990) *Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service (1991) *Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1991) *Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize (1992) *Poets' Prize (1992) for Atlas of the Difficult World *Frost Medal (1992) *Academy of American Poets Fellowship (1992) *MacArthur Fellowship (1994) *Wallace Stevens Award (1996) *National Medal of Arts (1997) (refused) *Lifetime Achievement Award from the Lannan Foundation (1999) * Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters: National Book Foundation, (2006) *Lifetime Recognition Award from the Griffin Poetry Prize (2010) Publications Poetry *''A Change of World'' (foreword by W.H. Auden). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1951. *''Poems''. New York: Oxford University Poetry Society, 1952. *''The Diamond Cutters and Other Poems''. New York: Harper, 1955. *''Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law: Poems, 1954-1962''. New York: Harper, 1963 **revised edition. New York: Norton, 1967. *''Necessities of Life''. New York: Norton, 1966. *''Selected Poems''. London: Chatto & Windus, 1967. *''Leaflets: Poems, 1965-1968''. New York: Norton, 1969. *''The Will to Change: Poems, 1968-1970''. New York: Norton, 1971. *''Diving into the Wreck: Poems, 1971-1972''. New York: Norton, 1973. *''Poems: Selected and new, 1950-1974''. New York: Norton, 1974. *''Twenty-one Love Poems''. Emeryville, CA: Effie's Press, 1977. *''The Dream of a Common Language: Poems, 1974-1977''. New York: Norton, 1978. *''A Wild Patience Has Taken Me This Far: Poems, 1978-1981''. New York: Norton, 1981. *''Sources''. Woodside, CA: Heyeck Press, 1983. *''The Fact of a Doorframe: Poems Selected and New, 1950-1984''. New York: Norton, 1984. *''Your Native Land, Your Life''. New York: Norton, 1986. *''Time's Power: Poems, 1985-1988''. New York: Norton, 1988. *''An Atlas of the Difficult World: Poems, 1988-1991''. New York: Norton, 1991. *''Collected Early Poems, 1950-1970''. New York: Norton, 1993. *''Dark Fields of the Republic: Poems, 1991-1995''. New York: Norton, 1995. *''Selected Poems, 1950-1995''. Knockeven, Ireland: Salmon Publishers, 1996. *''Midnight Salvage: Poems, 1995-1998''. New York: Norton, 1999. *''Fox: Poems, 1998-2000''. New York: Norton, 2001. *''The School among the Ruins: Poems, 2000-2004''. New York: Norton, 2004. *''Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth: Poems 2004-2006''. New York: Norton, 2007. *''No Poetry Will Serve: Poems 2007-2010. New York: Norton, 2011.Stephen Burt, No Scene Could Be Worse, London Review of Books, LRB Ltd. Web, Nov. 20, 2010.'' Plays *''Ariadne: A Play in Three Acts and Poems'' (drama). Baltimore, MD: J.H. Furst, 1939. *''Not I, but Death: A Play in One Act'' (drama). Baltimore, MD: J.H. Furst, 1941. Non-fiction *''Of Woman Born: Motherhood As Experience and Institution''. New York: Norton, 1976 ** 10th anniversary edition (with a revised introduction), 1986. *''Women and Honor: Some notes on lying'' (pamphlet). Pittsburgh, PA: Motheroot Publishing / Pittsburgh Women Writers, 1977. *''On Lies, Secrets, and Silence: Selected prose, 1966-1978''. New York: Norton, 1979. *''Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence'' (pamphlet). Denver, CO: Antelope Publications, 1980. *''Blood, Bread and Poetry: Selected prose, 1979-1986''. New York: Norton, 1986. *(With Susan Morland) Birth of the age of women. Hereford, UK: Wild Caret, 1991. *''What Is Found There: Notebooks on poetry and politics''. New York: Norton, 1993. *''Arts of the Possible: Essays and conversations''. New York: Norton, 2001. *''Poetry and Commitment: An assay''. New York: Norton, 2007. *''A Human Eye: Essays on art in society 1997-2008''. New York: Norton, 2009. Translated *(And editor, with Aijaz Ahmad and William Stafford). Poems by Ghalib. New York: Hudson Review, 1969. *Mark Insingel, Reflections. New York: Red Dust, 1973. Edited *''The Best American Poetry 1996'' (guest editor). New York: Scribner, 1996. See also * American philosophy * List of American philosophers * List of U.S. poets References *Colby Langdell, Cheri (2004) Adrienne Rich: The Moment of Change Praeger ISBN 0-313-31605-8 *Dana Gioia, first published in San Francisco Magazine (January 1999) "Midnight Salvage: Poems 1995-1998" *Henneberg, Sylvia (2010) The Creative Crone: Aging and the Poetry of May Sarton and Adrienne Rich University of Missouri ISBN 0-8262-1861-X *Keyes, Claire (2008) The Aesthetics of Power: The Poetry of Adrienne Rich University of Georgia Press ISBN 0-8203-3351-4 *Shuman , R. Baird (2002) Great American Writers: Twentieth Century. Marshall Cavendish *Yorke, Liz (1998) Adrienne Rich: Passion, Politics and the Body Sage Publications ISBN 0-8039-7727-1 Notes External links ;Poems * Adrienne Rich profile and 4 poems at the Academy of American Poets. *Adrienne Rich b. 1929 at the Poetry Foundation. *Adrienne Rich: Online Poems ;Prose * "Legislators of the world" poetry article by Rich at The Guardian, November 18, 2006. ;Books * ;Audio / video * Adrienne Rich profile and poems written and audio at Poetry Archive. * Adrienne Rich videos * Griffin Poetry Prize Profile and videos. * Reading and conversation at Lannan Foundation September 29 1999 (audio, 48 mins). * Extensive audio recordings of Rich at PennSound, University of Virginia. ;About * Adrienne Rich (1929- ) at Modern American Poetry. * Profile at Barclay Agency . ;Etc. * "Adrienne Rich Papers". Archive at Schlesinger Library from the Radcliffe Institute. Category:1929 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century poets Category:21st-century poets Category:American anti-war activists Category:American feminist writers Category:American poets Category:American tax resisters Category:American women writers Category:Bisexual writers Category:Cornell University faculty Category:Feminist writers Category:Lambda Literary Award winners Category:LGBT feminists Category:LGBT Jews Category:LGBT writers from the United States Category:Jewish American writers Category:Jewish feminists Category:Jewish women writers Category:MacArthur Fellows Category:National Book Award winners Category:People from Baltimore, Maryland Category:Radcliffe College alumni Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Category:Poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:21st-century women writers Category:Women poets